When will dumsor end? - Here are 3 discordant deadlines from government

The ongoing power outages have been called dumsor by a large section of society even as the government insists that it is a challenge with an end in sight.

While the outages under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration lasted for years, the then government is credited with providing a timetable as compared to the current situation where government has refused to provide one.

Per GhanaWeb tracking, there are three dates so far relative to when the current dumsor will end.

In the next few days:

The Chairman of the Governing Board of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Herbert Krapa, in a recent Facebook post hinted that the issue will be over in a few days.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, read as follows: “As I said earlier today at Kaleo, at the Commissioning of VRA’s 15MW Solar Plant, the Government has put in place immediate measures to ensure the return of uninterrupted supply of power to consumers. I can, therefore, state that the unfortunate power challenges Ghanaians are facing should be over in the next few days.

“We are fully confident that the measures being put in place should resolve the service interruptions. We empathise with all consumers and apologise unreservedly for the effects of the outages on our daily lives. Please bear with us. We are fixing it and we are nearly there,” Herbert Krapa’s post read.

Dumor to end by end of April

Dr. Gideon Boako, Economic Advisor and Spokesperson for the Vice President, said earlier this week that the power cuts across the nation will soon be over.

He was highly optimistic that the electricity problems confronting the populace would no longer be present by the end of this month.

"The information I have and from where I sit, I know the power cuts are likely to end by the end of this month," he said on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".

‘Dumsor’ will end in May – Ayeh-Paye

A former Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Roads and Transport, Samuel Ayeh-Paye, had earlier disclosed that the intermittent power outages will end by May this year.

According to him, the government is working assiduously to resolve the challenges in the energy sector.

Speaking on Joy Prime Morning, Mr Ayeh-Paye said, “We’ve kept the light on for the past seven years. What has been happening is just some outages that we’re working on, and we want to assure them [Ghanaians] that by the end of next month [May], we’ll not see these things again.”

ECG on timetable and causes of outages

Though the power distribution company - Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) - has attributed the intermittent power supply to technical challenges, some Ghanaians and institutions including the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) think otherwise.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in March directed the Electricity Company of Ghana to furnish it with a load management timetable by April 2, 2024.

ECG’s management in reaction maintained that the power outages stem from technical difficulties and that no formal load-shedding schedule will be implemented.

PURC subsequently fined ECG board members GH¢5.8 million for power cut violations.

SARA